Tranmere 0, Chesterfield 0

THEY are a tenacious breed in Chesterfield. At the start of last week the Chesterfield Footballers Supporters Association showed that it is possible for dedicated and resourceful fans to strike a blow for the game they love.

THEY are a tenacious breed in Chesterfield. At the start of last week the Chesterfield Footballers Supporters Association showed that it is possible for dedicated and resourceful fans to strike a blow for the game they love.

The passing of control of Chesterfield from the administrator into the hands of those admirable supporters at the High Court on Tuesday was one of the most heartening football stories of the season for those of us who care about the future of our national game beyond the revenue obsessed world of the Premiership.

So it was appropriate at the end of an inspiring week for the Spireites that the team should demonstrate their own focused brand of determination on the pitch in the battle to keep the club in the second division.

Chesterfield have devised a method of frustrating opponents on their own soil that works so effectively they've lost only four times in 14 away games during the league campaign so far.

The points squeezed out on the road are proving crucial in lifting them away from the relegation zone.

Tranmere Rovers knew in advance of Saturday's encounter at Prenton Park that Chesterfield would throw a cordon of four defenders and five midfielders in front of goalkeeper Nathan Abbey.

They also knew it would take patience and invention to find a way through the maze of blind allies in front of them. But they could not summon enough of either of those qualities to force Abbey into a serious save all afternoon.

Tranmere should have guessed their luck was out when Jason Koumas clipped his best effort of the game against the foot of a post in the 12th minute.

Tranmere invested too much faith in the hopeful long ball as Chesterfield's tactics stretched them out.

And when they did work the ball into promising attacking positions the final cross or pass often lacked the quality to trouble the red-shirted defenders.

It wasn't the first time Tranmere have laboured against modest opponents with a game plan designed primarily for containment.

They encountered similar problems against Colchester last month and finished up with the same result.

Not that Chesterfield's tactics were entirely negative, as acting manager Dave Rushbury was at pains to point out afterwards.

Rushbury was the club physio before previous boss Nicky Law left for Bradford City late last year, taking two coaches with him.

And the former Sheffield Wednesday player appears to be relishing his expanded responsibilities.

He said: "I felt we always posed a threat with our pace up front. We tried to make use of that without being purely defensive."

Indeed, Chestefield created a chance in each half from sharply mounted counter-attacks which striker Jamie Burt and midfielder Rob Edwards wasted with hurried shots that failed to find the target.

But for the most part Chesterfield were content to play the cagey game that has yielded just 14 goals to away opponents and were clearly satisfied to take home the point they came for.

They had problems early on in keeping a rein on Koumas, who peppered the visitors' goal with shots and crosses.

But as the game wore on they made it increasingly difficult for Tranmere's most creative player to make an impact and there wasn't a great deal of inspiration from other quarters.

Jason Price was denied by a goalmouth clearance from Steve Payne on the stroke of half-time after his closerange shot deflected off a defender and ballooned towards the top corner of the net.

But after the break Tranmere appeared to be running out of ideas when manager Dave Watson threw on attacking substitutes Stuart Barlow, Wayne Allison and Andy Parkinson.

The result was a flurry of late pressure in which midfielder Sean Flynn put a header just over and Barlow, moving onto an inviting opportunity created by Allison's knock down, sliced his left-foot shot high into the crowd from a dozen yards.